


Your Colours Were Like My Dreams

by CookieDoughMe



Category: Haven (TV)
Genre: Happy Ending, In which I project my own life issues onto Nathan, M/M, Minor Angst, Mostly Fluff, but hey it's not like it's the first time, canon as an AU, dreaming of alternative realities, just two guys with office jobs and a nice healthy relationship, law-enforcement-free AU, trouble-free AU, written while watching season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-24 23:30:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21107774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CookieDoughMe/pseuds/CookieDoughMe
Summary: Duke has an irritating day at work. Nathan helps him relax.The title is the line from the Culture Club'sKarma Chameleon, mostly just because I had it in my head when I was writing this (and the reference to dreams works for chapter three), but I do also like how another line fits it too; "You're my lover, not my rival."This has references to the Joss Whedon version ofMuch Ado About Nothing, so I don't know if I need to warn for spoilers exactly in relation to Shakespeare, but if I do then consider yourself warned;)





	1. Chapter 1

Nathan pushed open the door to his apartment building with some relief: a long day in the office had been followed by the "team social" event he hadn't been able to get out of. He was particularly keen to get home to Duke today because when they'd spoken at lunch Duke had sounded stressed and fed up, and Nathan hadn't been able to do much to cheer him up in a quick phone conversation in the office snatched between conference calls and meetings.  Nathan hated the thought that while he had been making awkward small talk with colleagues, Duke had been eating alone. He knew that if they'd been in town he would have been round at Audrey and Claire's, but with both of them away with work for the week, there weren't many other people Duke would choose to hang out with after a day as irritating as his had obviously been.

But perhaps he would have been doing some yoga; Duke sometimes spent hours at a time on his yoga mat moving, stretching and meditating, and it seems like it could be that kind of day. Nathan was careful to be quiet as he made his way into the apartment, so as not to interrupt any meditation that might be going on, but when he got inside he found Duke in the kitchen washing up. and watched for a moment as Duke turned to put a clean plate on the draining board. Between that and the soft baggy clothes he was wearing, it looked like he had both eaten and hit the yoga mat, but Nathan could tell just from the set of his shoulders that the yoga hadn't helped much. “Hey," Nathan said softly, stepping further into the room, "How's it going?"

Duke was just finishing up and dried his hands as he turned to say hello. "Hey, how was your thing?" he asked with a smile but it looked hollow to Nathan.

Nathan shrugged. "As advertised: pretty boring. Decent food though."

Duke nodded an acknowledgement. Work events in the evening tended to be boring and/or irritating at best, but decent food was a bonus.

"You OK?" Nathan asked, stepping closer and resting a hand on Duke's arm.

"Yeah I have just had the most irritating day you could imagine. And draining and infuriating and tiring and frustrating," he said, rubbing his temples with his fingers. "Nothing dramatic happened," he added, forestalling Nathan's next question, "it was just one thing after another after another. All. Day. Long."

Nathan pulled him into a soft hug. "Anything I can do?" he asked.

"To be honest I would really just love to curl up on the sofa with you and watch a movie," Duke said to Nathan’s shoulder.

Nathan squeezed his shoulders and stepped back where they could see each other to reply. "Easily arranged. You want to go pick something and I'll get some snacks together?"

Duke smiled a tight smile at him. "That would be great, thank you."

"No thanks needed; sounds nice. Pick whatever you like, I’ll just get changed."

By the time Nathan joined Duke in the living room a few minutes later, the blinds were closed, the lighting turned down low, space on the coffee table cleared for snacks and the bottles of beer that Nathan also had with him, and a movie was queued up and ready to go on the screen.

"Much Ado About Nothing?" Nathan asked. "Good choice."

"I know we've seen it a load of times but I don't think I have the brain power for anything new."

"That's fine," said Nathan easily. "It's very rewatchable."

"Yeah it is, isn't it?"

"And you made it all nice and cosy in here," said Nathan approvingly as he set the snacks down on the table and settled himself in the corner of the sofa.

Duke took a long swig of beer and then took longer to get settled, fluffing cushions and moving them around; apparently unable to find any position that was comfy. Nathan took one of the cushions and put it on his lap. "Here you go, perfect head rest," he suggested.

Duke lay down with his head on the cushion and his legs stretched out along the sofa they had picked largely for the simple fact that it was long enough to allow them to do so. "I'm not squashing you or anything?"

"No, it's nice," Nathan assured him, resting one hand on Duke's waist. He brushed the fingers of the other hand over Duke's head and the strands of his hair, the ponytail he wore for work discarded once he got home. Duke made a soft little noise of appreciation in his throat at the contact and angled his head towards Nathan's hand a little. So Nathan ran his hand over Duke's head and hair again. "Tell me if this gets annoying," he offered.

"It's nice," Duke told him, and hit  _ Play _ on the remote.

As the movie started, Nathan kept his hand moving in the same slow soft rhythm, fingers lightly brushing over Duke's hair. He was careful to keep the pressure light and to move slowly, a break between each repeated stroke of Duke's head. They both had days like every so often - bad days all the more annoying for how pointless they were - and he knew that the worst thing sometimes was when everything got too much that it could get to the point where  _ anything _ could just be  _ Simply Too Much _ , including a hand placed on a head with just a little more pressure than needed. So he moved slowly, letting Duke's body process one touch before beginning the next one, giving his brain nothing extra to think about. 

As the little prologue scene gave way to the movie proper, Nathan shifted his shoulders into a more comfortable angle and felt himself relax. It was good to be home.

Duke rested a hand on Nathan's knee and Nathan could feel just from the tension in those fingers (and his neck, and shoulders) that it was going to take longer for Duke to relax. But he would do what he could to help.

When he had days like this sometimes Nathan would go for a run, sometimes he would just want to drink too much and sometimes he would want exactly this. Stillness, quietness (except for the familiar lines of a feel-good movie), the warm body of the man he loved. Sometimes of course, he would want to quit his job, sell everything he owned and go backpacking around Africa or something, but ideas like that rarely felt appealing for long. The problem was that getting stressed out by a job you didn't actually care about was a uniquely contradictory and stressful thing in itself. Neither of them had been the kind of kid who picks a career at a young age and sticks to it. Most of their educational and work decisions had been made with the main aim of moving away from home as soon as possible and they had both, though by different routes, ended up working in middle-management-level jobs at big corporate companies, and so there was no more meaning for them to what they did each day than the paycheck at the end of it and the independence and security that provided. Not that that was nothing (that was a  **lot** ), but it could be emotionally complicated, and draining too.

Sometimes Nathan wondered what it would be like if he had found a proper (as he thought of it) profession; some kind of calling. The police perhaps, or a doctor maybe, a lawyer or firefighter. Sometimes when they watched TV shows with people who had that kind of life it definitely seemed like something to aspire to, but then, it seemed to have disadvantages too. And there were advantages to an office job; they both worked regular hours, the pay and benefits were decent, they had reasonable job security and they never had to feel guilty for a bad decision that had cost lives, or wonder whether they could have saved someone if only they had just done things a little differently. He could do without that kind of guilt, he thought. Not everyone could be a hero - they lived good lives, paid their taxes, recycled, gave to charity. They did what they could to be good citizens in between the corporate grind. And at the end of the day they came home to their lovely apartment and ran their hands through each others hair and the world never seemed quite so bad after that.

As the actors on screen spoke their familiar lines, Nathan's eyes flicked between Duke and the movie. One of the things he loved about it was the casting; a lot of the cast familiar from one well-loved show or another. He could never remember the actors names though, and tended to think of them as the character he'd first seen them play. So, here was Simon from Firefly getting out of a car with Topher from Dollhouse, here was Mr Dominic from Dollhouse being greeted by Coulson from the MCU, and here was Wesley from Buffy and Fred from Angel throwing snark at each other so elegant in its language it had taken him a few times of watching before he even fully appreciated what they were saying. How odd it would be, Nathan thought, to spend so much time arguing with someone you were actually in love with.

As Dominic, Wesley and Topher made their way inside, Nathan turned his eyes down to Duke, watching the side of his face as his fingers continued to run softly across Duke's hair. With each stroke, his fingers started at Duke's temple, lightly brushing skin for a moment before moving over his hair, the pads of his fingers running softly over Duke's scalp before dropping off the back of his head and curling through the strands of his hair. And then, moving his hand slowly back to the start, there was the same break each time before he did it again. He thought he felt Duke's head grow a little heavier through the cushion as Duke started to relax.

After a while Nathan gave up on the screen completely, watching Duke as he listened to Dominic, Coulson and Topher form their alliance and toast their matchmaking plan, and saw that Duke's eyes were closed to the movie as well. Nathan smiled; Duke wasn't asleep, but he thought perhaps his breathing was a little deeper. Perhaps the familiar lines of the movie helped as well; the language was truly elegant afterall ("... silence is the perfectest herald of joy ...") and the delivery from all of the cast was perfect.

Nathan's eyes flicked back up to the screen in amusement at the sight of Malcom Reynolds from Firefly bickering with Andrew from Buffy. He couldn't remember ever having laughed at Shakespeare before, but these two were only the highlight of a version that always made him laugh. They delivered their lines in a way that added humour he wouldn't have seen otherwise, and they were almost funnier still when they weren't even speaking. 

It wasn't all funny of course, but Nathan kept up the same movement with his hands through Fred's fierce anger as she wished for the power that men had in her world, and as the challenge to a duel between Topher and Wesley was made he felt rather than saw Duke relax a little further against his leg. 

The strokes of Nathan's fingers over Duke's hair grew gradually slower and longer through the 109 minutes of the movie, and Duke's weight grew slowly heavier as his muscles relaxed from holding himself up. By the time the Wesley on screen was happy at the idea of a wedding and Dominic was toasting to it, it felt to Nathan like a lot of the tension had seeped out of Duke's body. He felt warm and heavy through the pillow on Nathan's leg and his breath was deep and slow.

As all but two of the cast celebrated the happy ending on the dancefloor, Duke rolled over onto his back and looked up at Nathan with heavy eyes.

"Hey," said Nathan warmly. "Alright?"

Duke hummed a happy-sounding agreement in the back of his throat and nudged his head against Nathan in a wordless request for more stroking. 

Nathan laughed, "I swear you were a cat in a previous life."

"I'd purr if I could," Duke assured him, and Nathan laughed again.

"So what now? I could stroke some …" he moved his other hand a little lower, suggestively lower, down Duke's body, "... other parts of you? Or give you a back massage if you want to move to the bed?"

Duke considered his options for a moment. "Much as I feel just now like I don't want to ever move again, that's probably not entirely practical …"

"Probably," Nathan interjected, deadpan.

A twitch at the corner of Duke's mouth indicated he'd heard him, but he ignored the comment as he carried on, "... and a back massage sounds like heaven."

"Go get yourself ready for bed then, so you can drift off to sleep if you want. I'll tidy up in here."

Duke sat up and planted a soft kiss on Nathan's cheek. "Thanks Nate," he said.

"No thanks needed," Nathan assured him and watched ad Duke walked off towards the bathroom.


	2. Chapter 2

Nathan turned off the TV, finished his beer and tidied away the bowls of nuts and chips that had lain largely untouched. He double locked the front door, tapped the heating control to leave the heating on for an extra half hour and made his way into the bedroom to find Duke spreadeagled on his stomach, the sheets just about covering his ass. Nathan smiled to himself and took his turn in the bathroom before undressing down to his boxers and crawling onto the bed to straddle Duke and run his hands over Duke's shoulders.

"Shall I keep it light, or try and get into your muscles?" he asked. They had taken a massage class a few years ago and while neither of them were experts they took plenty of opportunity to practice, and they knew each other's bodies well. He was confident he could work a few kinks out if he tried.

"You can push hard, just keep the movements slow," Duke replied, voice muffled against the sheets.

"Got it," Nathan said and leant forward to press his weight against Duke's shoulder blades, pushing him into the mattress.

Duke let out a low moan, and Nathan curled his fingers, pressing into the muscles that ran from shoulder blade to neck. He pressed almost as hard as he could, but moved slowly enough that it was not jarring to Duke's still-relaxing body. He moved so slowly in fact that sometimes he was hardly moving at all, but he pressed his fingers into the muscles that ran along the top of Duke's shoulders, and he felt some of the kinks start to work themselves out even as the rest of Duke's body relaxed between his legs. He moved his attention to Duke's spine and pressed the tips of his fingers into the muscles either side, careful to avoid pressure on the bones themselves. He worked his way down to Duke's lower back and ran his palms slowly over Duke's sacrum, pressing more softly here and curling his fingers around Duke's hips.

Duke's skin was warm under Nathan palms as he ran his hands back up his back. As Duke's breathing shifted slowly into longer, slower breaths, Nathan felt the difference as more of the tension left Duke's muscles and he went from holding himself above the mattress to sinking down into it. He worked his fingers into Duke’s shoulder muscles again; he knew from personal experience how easy it was to sit too still at a desk all day when you were busy and fix tension into shoulder muscles that it was hard to let go of.

"OK?" Nathan asked after a while. "How 'bout I turn you over?"

Duke breathed a contented little sound of acknowledgement. It wasn't necessarily that much to go on in terms of agreement, but Nathan knew his husband well, so he pulled Duke's arms down to his sides, moved to one side and pulled Duke over by his shoulder, until Duke lay flat on his back.

"Kinda hot," Duke commented, way too relaxed to want to engage his own muscles and move himself around. 

Nathan straddled him again and ran his palm over Duke's chest. He pressed lightly this time, finger tips barely brushing over skin, but he moved slowly still, the same relaxed pace. Duke breathed into the touch and Nathan felt Duke's cock twitch underneath him. Nathan's fingers brushed over nipples and ribs and that almost-ticklish spot near his underarms and Duke's breathing changed again. He breathed out a long low sigh of pleasure. "I don't deserve you," he said appreciatively.

Nathan looked over the beautiful body laid out beneath him, and ran his hands over Duke's chest again. "Oh you definitely do," he objected. "Everything I can give you, and more. You're so beautiful."

Duke might have been about to reply, but Nathan's fingers ran low on his stomach, pushing under the sheet to brush the hair between Duke's legs and his sentence turned into a pleased little intake of breath instead.

Sometimes Duke liked to be teased, and then Nathan's stomach would flip in pleasant surprise at the sight of Duke squirming and begging beneath him, gasping in a mix of frustration and pleasure when Nathan would let go of Duke's cock a moment before he could crest the wave into orgasm. And the look on Duke's face as Nathan did the same thing again. And then again. Pulled him up, almost to the top of that wave and then, let go or slowed down to drag it out longer after all. Time and time again he would play with that moment, that almost-the-crest-of-the-wave moment that would make Duke pant and moan and beg and forget how to breathe. And Nathan's heart would thump in his own chest at the beauty of the man in front of him and the power of the trust that Duke placed in him and that almost-there moment would get slightly longer each time. Until there was no falling back from it and Duke would crash into orgasm with eyes screwed shut, head thrown back and fingers tangled in the sheets or wrists straining against restraints.

When Duke teased Nathan it was different; he would simply make him wait. He could get Nathan all revved up with nothing more than a look, a touch or two and an instruction, whispered in hot breath against the skin of his ear. And Nathan, breath ragged already with the anticipation, would do what he was told and strip naked to lie on the bed where Duke would stand and watch him for a moment, look him over, kiss him deeply with the promise of things to come and then … leave. Sometimes he'd roll out his yoga mat in the next room (and sometimes Nathan would choose to forget the instruction and peer round the door to watch him). Sometimes Duke would go for a run, leave Nathan lost in thoughts of what Duke would do to him once he got back; what they would do to each other. That look from Duke, that kiss; the promise of what was to come was distracting enough that minutes would disappear like seconds as Nathan lay waiting, skin tingling in anticipation of his lover's return as he wondered which route Duke was running today and how long he would be gone. And even once he got home Duke would play with the tease of it; closing the front door loud enough for Nathan to hear and then taking his time making his way to the bedroom. Sometimes taking a shower first and then standing at the foot of the bed, watching Nathan as he dried his hair; Nathan's breath stuttering even more as he wondered what Duke was planning while he looked Nathan's waiting body over. And sometimes the front door would shut and the next moment Duke would be there; hot and sweaty skin pressed against Nathan's that had grown cool from lying still even as the beat of his heart kept his insides warm enough. One minute Nathan would be wondering where Duke was and the next minute his body would be pressed tight, breathing hard from the run and warm as he sank down over Nathan's waiting cock at last. 

But today was not a day for teasing. Duke was more relaxed now, but Nathan wanted to do more for him than that. He rested his palms flat against the front of Duke's shoulders and ran them gently down over his chest, moving slowly, lightly, but inexorably down his body. As he got to Duke's stomach he said, "Right now you deserve an orgasm I think. Sound good?" 

"Yea-h," Duke breathed.

Nathan shifted lower on the bed, pulling the sheet with him so Duke was naked in front of him.

"Hold me still?" Duke asked.

Nathan ran his hands up Duke's legs, thumbs catching the soft skin at the inside of his thighs on their way to the most sensitive skin of all. Nathan's legs were either side of Duke's and he curled his feet over Duke's legs to hold him in place a little more. He pressed his palms to Duke's hip bones, pushing his ass to the mattress. He couldn't do anything about Duke's arms, but he saw him curl his fingers in the sheets as he ducked his head to take Duke's cock in his mouth.

He moved slowly to start with, then gradually changed the rhythm faster and faster, his fingers brushing over the skin of Duke's hips as his palms held him still, thumbs brushing the side of Duke's balls in between the movement of his head. And when he judged that Duke was close, his slowed his rhythm back down again, stretching it out just a little longer, so that when Duke came it was with a moan as low and loud as any Nathan had heard, and he felt the pulse of Duke's hips stutter frantically beneath his hands.

Nathan pulled off and wiped his mouth and lay down next to Duke. "Alright?" he asked.

"Amazing," Duke replied in a low voice, sounding so relaxed the word was practically slurred, sounding more like  _ mazn _ . "'d like to recip'cate but not sure I c'n move."

"No, don't," Nathan assured him quickly, a hand coming to rest on Duke's chest as if to hold him still if need be. "Let your muscles rest. I'm going to go to sleep hard and dream about you."

Duke opened his eyes briefly. "That's pretty hot," he admitted. After a moment he added, "Maybe I'll wake you with a blow job."

" _ That's _ pretty hot," Nathan replied. "Definitely dreaming about you now."

Nathan reached down and pulled the sheets over them, rested his hand back on Duke's chest, and felt Duke's breathing change yet again as Duke quickly fell asleep. For all that he thought it might take him a while before he nodded off himself, he wasn't long before he was asleep and dreaming too.

-

Duke woke, blinked at the clock until he saw there were still a few hours until morning, and got up to use the bathroom. He felt so much better now than he had when he'd got home yesterday. Nathan and those magic hands of his. 

As he was walking back to the bed he realised two things at the same time. One; the heating was still on for some reason and it was unnecessarily warm. Two; Nathan was evidently feeling the heat because he had thrown the covers back, but more than that he was obviously having the kind of dream he'd been hoping for; his erection not simply visible through his boxers but having pushed its way right out of them.

Duke grinned to himself. First he went to check the heating, putting it back onto its usual timer that Nathan must have changed last night. It would stay warm for a little while yet. Then he came back to bed to follow through on his promise.


	3. Chapter 3

Duke climbed back into bed slowly, and straddled Nathan carefully so as not to wake him - yet. He knelt either side of Nathan's knees and hooked his feet over Nathan's ankles the way Nathan had done to him earlier. He put his hands over Nathan's wrists and rubbed his thumbs over the sensitive skin at the inside of Nathan's wrists, sure that this would gently wake him up. And as Nathan stirred, Duke ducked his head and took his cock in his mouth, moved his head up and down once, twice, then pulled away.

"Holy Fuck," breathed Nathan.

Duke laughed. "You're awake then?" he said, all faux-innocent. "Shall I keep going?" he asked.

"Yeah," replied Nathan. "God yeah."

Duke went down on him again, still holding his wrists and running his fingers over the sensitive skin there. Between last night and the dream and maybe the surprise at being woken, it was not long before Nathan was shouting a string of incoherent obscenities at the ceiling as he came.

Duke ran his hand over Nathan's chest as he moved to lie down next to him again.

"Alright?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Nathan, a little breathless and sounding slightly stunned. "Didn't think you were actually going to …"

Duke laughed at the hint of awe in Nathan's voice. "Neither did I really," he admitted. "But I woke up, and there you were, and there ...  _ you _ were, just ready and waiting for me. What else is a guy supposed to do?"

Nathan laughed.

"So what were you dreaming about?" Duke asked. 

"It was a strange one," Nathan admitted, turning to snuggle into Duke and rest his head on Duke's shoulder. "I was a detective."

"Really!" Duke rested his hand on Nathan's arm.

"And you were … some kind of smuggler. Or pirate. Or something."

Duke laughed. "Was I terribly evil?"

Nathan shook his head slowly. "No. No, I don't think you were actually. But, we were on opposite sides of the law and it was … difficult. I was supposed to ..." he shook his head. "There was a dead body on a beach. Seemed like it must have fallen from the cliff and up there we found a gun, registered to you. So I went to go arrest you, went to your boat (this … big old rusty thing with perfectly stylish insides), but you weren't there. And I was frustrated and irritated and it felt like you'd arranged the whole thing just to infuriate me. Like it was just the latest in a whole string of times when I'd tried to arrest you and hadn't been able to, or had arrested you but then had to just let you go."

"You were just trying to get your hands on me," suggested Duke with a smirk as he danced the tips of his fingers over Nathan's arm.

"Well, in the dream I was mostly trying to get handcuffs on you," Nathan pointed out with a smirk of his own. "But it wasn't just that," he continued, more seriously. "I think it was also ... if you were in a police cell then you were  _ safe _ . The whole smuggler thing was dangerous and I was afraid that eventually I'd get called to a crime scene where I'd … come face to face with your dead body. And then I'd have to investigate your murder all while pretneding I wasn't dying inside myself."

"Oh poor baby," said Duke with feeling and kissed the top of his head softly. "I think I'd be too smart to let the smuggler/pirate lifestyle be the death of me though," he added, mock-serious. "And if someone did get me, you would definitely be a smart enough detective to put them behind bars."

"Cold comfort if you were dead and I'd never managed to tell you I loved you."

"It was just a dream," Duke assured him. "But wait, it looked like you were having a much more fun dream than that before I woke you?"

"Right, so … " Nathan closed his eyes and frowned, trying to remember the events of a dream that was already slipping away from him. "I tracked you down … somewhere. Arrested you, took you to the police station, but it was starting to look like it wasn't you, like I was going to have to let you go."

"Duke the pirate escapes the clutches of the law once more," Duke suggested in a dramatic voice-over voice.

Nathan laughed. "Well, no in fact. But it was at that point the dream suddenly got much more … dream-like. Everything else was so real, so convincing, Feels like there should be a gun and a badge on the dresser. But then everything shifted so that one minute we were in the middle of a police station full of people and the next minute the whole building was empty. It was just the two of us; me standing there with a badge on my belt and you sat there in handcuffs. And I  _ knew _ the whole building was empty, that no one was going to interrupt us. And you were grinning at me," Nathan paused to move his head so he could look at Duke, who seemed to know where the story was going and had a slightly filthy grin on his face already. "Yeah; just like that. Grinning at me and offering me sexual favours if I would just undo the cuffs and let you go. And I was battling with the ethics of it, the … honour I guess, but you …" Nathan closed his eyes again to relive the memory, "You'd slipped off the chair to sink to your knees and you were reaching for me and all I did was take a step closer and I knew it was going to be  _ so _ good; it was going to be worth it - even if I got caught and it ended my career it would be worth it and I was just … on edge with the anticipation and wound so tight with the situation and just as you were about to … then I felt your thumbs on my wrists instead and I was waking up and then my cock was in your mouth after all but it was  _ so much better  _ than the dream."

"Yeah?" asked Duke, looking pleased with himself.

"Not least because it was  _ you _ , the real you and the real me here in our actual bed together, not some messed up alternative versions in some morally-dubious abuse-of-power situation. And then your mouth and your tongue and your hands and, you know exactly what I like. And last night as well; the sight of you all stretched out in front of me, just so relaxed at my touch. And all of it just merged together and good god but that was fantastic."

Duke laughed again. "I'm glad I timed it so well. And who knew going to sleep hard would result in such interesting dreams?"

"It was either that or I ate too much cheese earlier. It was so specific though, so detailed. I can almost believe it's some alternative reality, that we're actually living those lives somewhere out in the multi-verse."

"Well if we are then I will do my best not to end up dead at one of your crime scenes," joked Duke.

"And I will try to tell you that I love you before you die," promised Nathan. He kissed Duke's forehead and rearranged the pillows beneath his head. "But even if there might be some excitements to being a detective, I'm glad it's this reality we're in."

"Yeah me too," agreed Duke, resting his hand on Nathan's waist. "Love you always," he said, in an often-repeated echo of their wedding vows.

"Love you forever," replied Nathan in kind.

And they settled back down to sleep; content, together, and safe.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. If you're glad you did then any form of positive comment is always very welcome <3


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